NEW YORK (CBS 2/1010 WINS) — Nearly 20 inches of snow fell in parts of the Tri-State Thursday. Mayor Michael Bloomberg promised that all New York City streets would be plowed by Friday. How are they doing?

In Queens Village, a city sanitation hybrid salt and plow truck navigated a tight residential street. The problem: with this much snow on the ground, even a thorough pass will not yield blacktop. The result has driver after driver spinning their wheels, with their vehicles stuck in the snow.

“I’ve been trying to call 3-1-1 maybe since last night. I never got a response. Everyone in the City’s been stuck. I think they really need to do something about this,” one man said.

At one point, CBS 2’s Jay Dow spotted a garbage truck outfitted with a plow. The driver told him he was assigned to clear bus stops and that his large plow apparatus was not designed to clear those residential streets.

“These are wings. I’m going to pile a whole bunch of snow. It does not turn to the side where I can push it to the side. See I have wings on. They need to come off,” said plow truck driver Luis.

On-street parking is at a premium in Pelham Bay with mounds of snow eating up spaces and most cars still buried. Most residents abide by the unwritten rule of the city – don’t take a spot that a neighbor cleared out.

“People around here are all friendly they know you live around here and that’s your spot constantly,” one man told 1010 WINS’ Terry Sheridan. “Why put up a fight for a spot?”

Still, some people, though they are digging, said they’re not moving.

“I’m not going to move the car cause I would never find parking again,” one woman said.

That led CBS 2’s John Slattery to investigate and he learned violating this unwritten rule can sometimes lead to unpleasant encounters.

Anyone who has done it can tell you, digging out a car is a heavy investment of time and sweat equity. Then, when they drive off, some people will try to hold the parking spot by pulling out garbage cans, or cones, or even with chairs.

“In a way you can’t blame ‘em. They shovel it and when they get home they want a spot. You can’t blame them. Personally, I don’t do that,” resident Frank Morrone said.

But plenty of people do, in all of the outer boroughs where street parking is a prized possession.

“You put two garbage cans out in front of your house and you hope for the best. You hope nobody moves them,” resident Mike Lauri said.

For generations, many residents have honored the markers. But some do not.

“There are people who don’t and that’s where you get problem. Cops come. I’ve seen it. It’s not nice, you know,” Lauri said, adding when pressed about his seriousness, “over a parking spot.”

“I haven’t seen any physical disputes. They gripe over it. Not friendly. Neighbors no more, you know,” Ron Bleimeyer said.

Some residents look upon the parking spot in front of their home as an extension of their own property.

“It’s not their space. It’s not their spot. Just ‘cause you shovel it doesn’t mean it’s theirs. But people lay claim to it for their own. It’s been done as long as I know,” said John Wohlfahrd.

Can you legally hold a parking spot you cleared? Of course not, but it’s a local custom that many residents honor and support.

On top of that battle, storm-weary residents across our region are facing the fact that when it comes to cleaning up the snow, it has to go somewhere. Neighborhoods across our region are simply running out of room.

“I think it’s ridiculous. It’s really ridiculous. All the plows push it into everybody’s cars, and we all got to dig it out,” said Joe Leone of Staten Island.

Matthew LiPani, spokesman for the Department of Sanitation, told the Staten Island Advance that they will start transporting the snow to melters which are positioned above city sewer connections. He said the city used to dump snow in large bodies of water but due to environmental reasons the practice was ended.

LiPani said residents should not throw snow into the street, instead they should pile the snow in their front yards or on the sidewalk near the curb.

The Department of Environmental Protection said it will allow some New Jersey towns and counties to dump snow in rivers on a case by case basis, The Record reported.

Municipal road crews from the suburbs to New York City seemed to be on top of this storm, clearing first the major roads and highways, and then the side streets Thursday. “The streets are definitely clearer. The last one was a disaster as we all know,” said Abigale Leone of Staten Island.

Armed with three dozen industrial sized snow melters and a healthy dose of embarrassment from last month’s bungled blizzard response, Mayor Bloomberg proudly declared Thursday that all primary streets and highways had received at least one plow pass.

“We learned. We asked the question of what didn’t work last time and whether there’s anything we could do differently. And we did have a lot of things different in terms of lining up private contractors. We have more communications as you know,” Bloomberg said.

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I think it is insane grown adults fighting over parking spaces like idiots. Band together and clean the whole area up like we do in the suburbs. Most of the cars snowed in more than likely are junks that don’t start or run anyway, so why not get tehm out fo there altogether ?? I lived in NYC briefly years ago, and was always amazed how people lose their brains the minute snow hits. It always seems to be someone elses fault, and no one will grab the bull by the horns and do something…Easier to whine and complain………

Jed, you’re an idiot. These are the cars people drive every day to work. Why would they be “junkers” They are digging them out to drive obviously, since the point is that when they drive off they are worried they won’t get their spot back. Which I think is valid. If you dig a car out from four feet of snow and/or additional snow piled up from when the plow went past that’s going to take hours, not minutes. The cars are snowed in because most places do not have driveways, everyone parks on the street. Do not mistake the boroughs for the suburbs.

Do you live in the south where snow doesn’t happen? People do not lose their heads when it snows, but when you live in a city with 8 million people packed into a relatively small geographical area concerns do begin to mount. There are more people, more streets and less places to put the snow.

You appear to be the idiot. If you bothered to check statistics and police records, you would see that most of the cars parked on city and neighborhood streets, do not get moved for days or weeks. That is until it snows. Then all of a sudden a crisis pops up where they just have to get out, and carry on like idiots when they can;t park the oil burner missing three lights and hubcabs, back where it was dug out from. Parking a car on a city street never ‘entitles’ you to that parking space, just because you dig it out. It is a public street, where all who pay taxes and are not behind on them, can move about freely. Unless you think you live in China, I would check the law first……..

My neighbor across the street has done this many time. They only use their driveway WHEN it snows. Parking is only on my side of the street. They stand at their windows watching us spend hours, and with the 2 BIG storms, DAYS shovellling out, then take the spots on the street we shovelled out, again leaving their driveway empty. This storm I mentioned it to them. Last night again, they took the spot. I left a note on their car – “May God forgive your selfishness in taking advantage of someone else’s hard word by parking in this spot.” My neighbors also know that I am 52 and disabled, watch me shovel and shovel, and take the spot anyway.

I did not mention that I live in a small town in NJ where there are single and mutlfamily homes. We do help each other out during storms, check in on our elderly neighbors in the freezing winter and hottest days in summer. We are not strangers to each other, we are friendly neighbors. The people who live in single family homes simply choose not to use their (very long) driveways, even when their snow blowers have dug them out, leaving fewer spaces for those of us who have to partk in the street. Respect for someone’s hard work during winter to dig out their car is seen with each of us helping each other, but that respect turns into greed when we see people who have their own driveway take our spots, leaving their driveways, empty. A sad comment on how things have changed.

thats when you take an ice pick and stab not just 1 tire but two, and do them both near the curb so its very difficult for them to change it. and you ask why two tires ? well, most idiots carry a spare or donut, but they dont have TWO HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

Nothing but your car belongs to you when you leave a spot. No more or less. If you want that spot you have cleaned to be yours for 12 or 24 hours leave your car parked there. Once you leave the place, it will be someone else’s. That’s the common sense. If all people think they own spots they cleaned it will be a non-sense.

New Yorker, Born in Brooklyn and lived there all my life. Just now moved to Long Island. Let me tell you something, NY is not for sissies and if you actually think that you are entitled to a parking spot because you dug it out and you cry about it? Then you’re not ready to live in NY, I’ll tell you that. Fair? Life’s not fair and living in NY you learn to suck it up and move on. A new Yorker will help you out if they see you in a tough spot, but as far as all these unwritten rules? That doesn’t fly in NY.

we need a Mayor like Giuliani remember blizzard 1996 he told everyone who have a car to moved it if they don’t they will get a ticket n they city will tow they cars if they don’t moved they cars what happen everyone moved they cars n the city street was clean Mayor Bloomberg should do the same thing

If we live in utopia, then Yes, we clean up the spot, we own the spot! That is ideal. But, please be realistic, we live in New York, we have difficult time to find parking spot on streets even in regular normal day! Those people they want these unwritten law, because they are selfish. They only see their own needs, and don’t care what the real situation is. Yes, they clean up the spot, they move their car, and they use their garbage can to hold the spot, and they want others to respect that. What about they need to drive to visit a friend?? If they see a parking spot with a garbage can there, will they respect that, if it’s a congested area, no other parking spot available??????? Come on, be honest, they will be the same, like ‘FXXX it!’ and move the garbage can and parked their car!!!!!!! People need to be more considerate!!!!

Re Ms Stubbs story, I seem to be the official fire hydrant clearer on my block. So yesterday as usual I clear it again. I am just about done and I see the plow truck coming. I stand there with my shovel raised yelling fire hydrant but the efen a hole continues to plow it in. So I left it. I went back in my house and tried to find the phone number for Sanitation District BK 18 but it was not listed in the phone book. I probably would have got arrested for what I wanted to tell them. Long story short I’M not doing it anymore, let someone else!

With the amount of snow this winter and the poor lack of response by the City, you realize how broken this City really is. I mean can you imagine living and working in a place that’s one of the highest taxed in the US and getting the kinds of services? And to add insult to injury, the garbage piles up highere and higher, along wiht the snow.

When I lived in the Bronx years ago, people would respect the fact that you shoved out the spot and wouldn’t park there. However, since I moved to Whitestone, Queens, that unspoken rule is not honored. I meanI can shovel out a spot in front of my house, and as soon as you leave, someone will grab it. I guess we live in a different era.
Meanwhile, a plow finally came through my block about 1 hour ago, and they did such a good job, that a car got stuck right after the plow left. Yesterday, there was no mail delivery. Fedex wasn’t able to deliver my package yesterday and again today. Parts of the city are crippled with the amount of snow on the ground.

What the city needs to do is rent some snow melting equipment which can melt the snow right on the spot rather than cart it off. The outdoor strip malls are also a mess. Very limited parking due to the piles of snow.
Something really needs to be done soon

The Queens Chronicle sent a reporter here to do a story about the fire hydrant that is covered by a mound of snow on my block. We rang the bell of the day care center where the fire hydrant is in front of. A woman answered from a first floor window. She said she is tired of shoveling because she has a corner house. She said the fire hydrant is city property. The reporter tried to tell her it is the home owner’s responsibility to clean out the fire hydrant. She said if it bothers the other neighbors they should shovel it out themselves. She doesn’t care that she has a day care of children who are at risk if a fire breaks out & the fire fighters can’t get to the fire hydrant to fight the fire.

We did a tour of the neighborhood. I showed him the lot next door to me that has not been shoveled since December 26TH.

I showed him The Andrews Avenue Bridge which finally got shoveled today thanks to Eileen Boland from Margaret Markey’s office. She had to contact the mayor’s office to get this bridge shoveled.

We look at other fire hydrants around 56TH Street & 62ND Avenue & 60TH Street. Some home owners cleared them & others did not. We spoke to one resident of 56TH Street who said the fire hydrant next door to him was cleared by the fire house on Metropolitan Avenue because he walked over there. He said his neighbor would not clean it out.

We walked over the 60TH Street Bridge & left hand side by The Metropolitan Oval Soccer Field had a path shoveled. We stopped in NE & WS Wood Working Company. The owner said he plowed the path up the bridge because he said it would never get done otherwise. He also cleaned out his fire hydrant because he said it is part of his property.

That’s why I have a feeling if I want that fire hydrant shoveled out on my block I will probably have to do it. Unbelievable that I have to not only clean off my property I have to worry about others’ properties.

That’s the new attitude if you don’t like how I keep my property do it yourself. What do you think about this? Where is people’s community spirit? Where is pride in your own property?

Well, this homeowner takes all the snow that drifts on his driveway and piles it onto my lawn. The pile is so high that I don’t know where I’ll put it it there isn’t any melting soon.

Doing a story on this? Yeah, I’d like to see them do a story on the City’s complete ineptness, all the dead wood that draws a paycheck from the City and doesn’t do squat. How about a story on the Sanitation Dept. and how some of the garages end up picking up garage 3 hours and spend the rest of their shift in the garage playing cards, sleeping, etc?

suck it up new york. Well most of the vehicles are under equipped with tires. Not many people in the city have winter tires for the winter. Usually summer or poor all season that dont do the job. This is unsafe and the reason why many drivers are getting stuck. Insurance companies began looking at tires of the cause of accidents that occur druing the winter in winter conditions. I once had a guy plow into me from the back. First thing I checked was his tires. Not only was it time to change them but they were summer tires . No thread pattern as a winter tire would have.
Former New Yorker.

Actually BS Meter, I lived in NYC for over 30 years and there really IS an unwritten rule about parking in a sport that was dug out by someone else. It was a respect factor. If someone spent 30 – 40 minutes digging out their car, and a neighbor saw them do it then they would like the other neighbors know who’s spot it was. Or the would ask the neighbor if they could have the spot once they left. Now if the spot that was dug out belonged to someone who was just visiting or not coming back, then that spot was free for anyone to take. Now you could have someone (and I suspect you are that type of person) who would just come out of nowhere and try to park in a spot that someone else dug out, but they would be politely asked to park somewhere else. I”ve dug my car out many times before so I know how much work it takes to do so, especially when it is surrounded by 15+ inches of snow. It is wrong for someone to come reap the benefits off of someone else’s hard work. I know it happens in corporate America all the time, but parking on the street isn’t corporate America. I’m glad that I grew up in such a neighborhood where we respected each other as such.

If you shovel out a space, and drive away. It’s over for you and that space. That’s the way it is — and ALWAYS has been. There’s nothing more to it. This article/the news are dwelling on Queens Village – which is close to suburbia-styled living, where people feel there’s an ownership in front of their HOUSE (in addition to their driveways) for their 2nd and 3rd cars.

That doesn’t fly, say in Brooklyn or Manhattan. Especially when there’s restaurants and shops nearby, as well. The police can easily be brought in, if someone pops off, at that. (Beyond a quick “shaddup”, for people that whine about this nonsense.) I’ve shoveled 15-20 sidewalks for older folks since Tues. – so that they may enter/exit (and not get fined, etc.) and passersby can pass their homes. My own car’s space WILL be shoveled tomorrow, and we’ll use it on Sunday — and there will be NO place to park when we return. THAT is the way it is.

Listen, I don’t have to rely on nostalgia – to understand NYC more than you’ll ever. Thirty years? That’s little leagues, to me. (Plus, you’re a runaway – so deal with where you live now.)

Might I suggest you people tired of the snow move to warmer climates. The is New York, It snows here. We’ve gotten more than usual this year but the last few years we’ve gotten less. Suck it up. Spring soon cometh then you get to complain about it being too hot. Have a great weekend all… Curl up with a good book or a movie and enjoy a nice hot chocolate. Winter is made for snuggling.

I again commend my friend, Mr. Michael Bloomberg, for an outstanding response to this latest storm. As financial supporters of the Mayor during his elections, he made sure that our specific streets were cleared multiple times and have remained completely clean after each storm.

Being a financial supporter and friend of Mike’s certainly has its advantages.

During an impending storm, there should be a total ban on street parking, so that plows can efficiently clear the streets. If it means wondering what you’d do with your car, who cares! Street parking is a luxury, but not at the expense of being able to clear the streets properly. Either get rid of your car or buy a spot in a garage. Ownership of cars in NYC is a huge problem for bad winters

Hey Einstein, parked cars do NOT get in the way of street cleaning. They plow the TRAFFIC lanes, not the edges of the sidewalk. That’s why cars parked on the street get buried by the plow when it goes by. I have a garage and I STILL get plowed in when the plow goes by. That’s just life in the city. No matter who you are or where you live, eventually you gotta plow your way out. Why don’t you move out of New York if it’s so distressing to you. Your idiotic solutions might work in Hicktown, USA

Where on earth would all the city residents put their cars you genius? Do you seriously have any idea how idiotic a statement you are making? Street parking is a LUXURY??? Guess you don’t read what all the surcharges are for NYC residents registering their cars…

Do us a favor. Find Bloomberg, crawl under his desk, unzip his fly, take his shriveled up peepee stick in your hand, open your drooling trap and shove it in, and shuddup.

Perhaps the snow should be dumped on “the Good Samaritian’s” door step. That’s just the sort of comment that one would expect from an ingnorant person. So perhaps the name should be The Ignorant Samaritan!!!

I’m from the Philippines and I sould just imagine the trouble you people are haaving there right now.I love the sight of snow but after all I ‘ve read and seen…..thanks but no thanks….Here in the Philippines, it’s flooding .Not everywhere but in some provinces…….I’m wondering if there is truth in the theory of another ice age eto come….Take care guys….

Well if ur trying 2 get ur car out and have 2 be going in and out of the car 2 shovel outside Cus the city is not doing there job than u have 2 be in the middle of the street shoveling doing the city’s job! I pay lots of taxes and so does the majority of us but I’m not gonna sit in my house while they decide 2 plow my street!

Last time I saw the streets in Elmont, a packof gang bangers jumped me. A little pack of monkeys. They all had their underwear, you know the little tag was hanging out the back of their pants and their pants were so loose, they were falling down and their shoes fell off. They beat me unmerciful. Then they left me for the dogs to nip at me in front of the Key Food. Ugh, It was horrible. HORRIBLE I tell ya.

I’m so tired of the snow!!! I understand it’s mother nature but what I don’t understand why is it that my block in queensvillage 88th Rd between 210st and 211st. Has not been cleaned! We still have snow in the middle of the street since the December storm! You could only imagine how this is! I’ve falling in the middle of the street twice and almost broken my shoulder!

Thanks guys, I’m tired of calling every where! It’s so bad here that for the last storm they lasted more than 2 weeks 2 pick up the garbage here! Wish I had some kind of plow of my own I would do my whole block and not even pay attention 2 the city!